The author uses a wide range of colours to differentiate the squares she uses as links, the backgrounds and the texts that appear each time you click on those links.





This hypertext is composed by 18 squares placed on the right side of the screen. The background on this side is white all the time, no matter what square you choose to click.

The squares are divided into three groups of colours:


1- Yellow + Blue/Green : The six squares which function as links to Dorothy and Sid story have yellow background and the fragment of text inside the square is in blue or green. The author makes a change in the colour of the texts inside the squares without no reason, apparently. So we have this order:
           

- The 2 first squares: Yellow background + Blue text.
                         
                             


- The 4 last squares: Yellow background + Green text.
 
                            



2- White + Green/Black : The six squares of Jerry and Tina's story have white background and the text inside has green colour. Except the last square that has the words in black.


- The 5 first squares: White background + Green text.

                           


- The Last one square: White background + Black text.

                             



3- Dark blue + white : The six squares that represent Gwen and Gunter have dark blue background and the text in white. There's no exception here.



Note: All the squares are bordered in blue letting you know that you have not click on them yet.






Each time you click on the squares, a text (in the form of parallel texts or appearing conversations) shows up on the screen. And each time both the background of the screen and the text change their colour.

I'm going to analyse the colors using the three couples of the story.


1- Dorothy and Sid :  They have 6 texts dedicated to them and the author has made a distinction of colour between the ones having conversations and the ones that show their thoughts. The structure would be this way:

• Texts 1 and 4: Parallel Columns. We have in both yellow background and the left column (Sid) appears in green and the right column (Dorothy) in blue. We also see that the phrase the author uses to give the information about where they are is in yellow. So we have a 3 colours distinction: Green for Sid, Blue for Dorothy and Yellow to underline the location of the couple.

                                                         
                                                           
                                                             Sid is thinking:                                  Dorothy is thinking:

                                                       (alone in the house in                          (working in her studio)
                                                            Flannagans Hill)  

• Texts 2, 3, 5 and 6: Conversations. Here we have dark green background and the fragments of text that appear are in light green. Both the names of the couple in the head of the screen and the place where they are, are in the same colour.

 

2- Jerry and Tina : In their 6 texts we notice that the author uses the same colour for the background without making distinctions between texts (like she has done in the first couple). Here we have the same colour no matter what kind of text is presented.

• Texts 1, 3 and 6: Conversations. Here we have the background in a shade of blue and the whole text that appears is in light green. There's no distinctions.

• Text 2: Thoughts. We have the same colour in the background. And in the columns, the left one appears in light green for him (Jerry) and the right one in white for her (Tina). There's no different colour for the place.

• Texts 4 and 5: Talks. We have the same pattern here. Background in a shade of blue and the text in light green.

3- Gwen and Gunter: In their 6 texts we see that the author has used the same colour for all the backgrounds and due to the fact that all the texts are conversations except one, the pattern in the colour is the same for all of them.

• Texts 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6: Conversations. We have dark blue background and the text appears in white. No distinction in the title.

• Text 2: Thoughts. Here we have the exception. We find the same colour in the background and in the text, but the title "Gunter is thinking" appears in green and the phrase "waiting for Gwen at a cafe" appears in yellow. That's the same pattern she used with the first couple.

                                     

Note: From the three couples, just the third one Gwen and Gunter share the same colour both in their texts/backgrounds and in their squares. In Dorothy and Sid's texts this just happens with two texts /squares and in the case of Jerry and Tina, the colour of the squares is not representative of what you find in the screen when you click on them.





© Malloy, Judy. "Afterwards".The Well. 2008. 6 Dec 2008 

<http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/dorothyandsid/ds.html>